Monday, May 4, 2009

Alfa Romeo is coming too...

Let's take a look at the other cars that Fiat has in the wings that could be showing up on our shores. What does Fiat Group Autos have to offer the US drivers? Well. take a look at these cars. Any of these cars would add excitement to the mass of boring cars on the US roads today.

What's it like to own an Alfa Romeo? Well it's difficult to put into words. For a true car enthusiast, it's a feeling and a connection with a glorious heritage that you can feel. A connection with people, some legendary, each sharing the same passion for Alfa Romeo.

In the following, we'll explore the Alfa Romeo European lineup with the help of a Fiat Group press release:

ALFA ROMEO

The best spirit of Alfa Romeo is beautifully encapsulated in this statement by Orazio Satta Puliga (1910-1974), one of the brand’s great designers: ‘Alfa Romeo is not just a car factory: its cars are something more than automobiles built in a conventional manner. Enthusiasm for a means of transport is a kind of disease. It is a way of life, a very special way of seeing a motor vehicle. Something that defies definition. Its elements are like those irrational traits of the human spirit that cannot be explained by logic’.

***** Alfa Romeo 159 *****

The new Alfa Romeo 159 1750 TBi 200 CV embodies a long heritage of motoring excellence and is characterized by all the elegance and taste of the Italian school of automobile design. Today, as always, Alfa Romeo designers and engineers can draw on the great Alfa tradition to design and build cars of beauty and personality, achieving a magical balance between reason and sentiment, technology and creativity.

For the Alfa 159, quality also means class-beating dynamism, obtained by careful calibration of the sophisticated suspension and the outstanding torsional rigidity of the body shell.

With the new “Alfa 159” project, the Italian car maker intends to take the lead in passive safety. The Alfa Romeo engineers have designed a specific new “premium” floor pan which adopts high performance materials, multiply sheet metal and laser welding. The architecture of the body shell also benefits from numerous measures such as: the use of boxed elements that are connected rigidly both transversely and vertically, three load lines in the front, longitudinals that run the whole length of the car, built-in structures and a larger number of spot welds around structural nodes. The result is the excellent torsional rigidity of the body shell, the best in its segment at over 180,000 daNm/rad.

The Alfa 159 has been awarded the prestigious five-star rating from Euro NCAP, which puts it ahead of the field for its segment where safety is concerned.

The Alfa 159 also boasts as many as eight airbags (including special bags to protect the knees and side bags that extend all along the window area), innovative restraint systems (pretensioners on the clasps and decreasing load limiters on the seat belts), and front seats with an “anti-whiplash” device that brings the head restraint nearer to the occupant’s neck in the event of a rear impact.

The Alfa 159 sets the new benchmark for its segment in terms of safety, certified by the five-star Euro NCAP rating which acknowledges that the car has sailed through the most difficult tests simulating all types of accident (head-on, side-on, overturning, rear impact and fire), taking into account the various speeds at which impact may occur, the different types of obstacles, and the need to protect occupants with very different physical characteristics.

***** Alfa Romeo Brera *****

Alfa Romeo Brera. Sportiness and elegance packaged in a unique, exclusive style. Harmony of shape and volume that add up to a good-looking, powerful and solid car supplemented by Alfa Romeo mechanical and engineering excellence. This, in short, is the soul of the Alfa Brera, a new prestige coupé that is able to arouse great emotion and guarantee maximum driving satisfaction.

The planners and designers had only one aim in mind: to marry the elegant, sporty line of an outstanding car with the quality and comfort of a luxury saloon. They achieved this result by basing the new product on the attractive Giugiaro-designed Brera prototype that won the hearts of the press and the general public, as the long list of prestigious international accolades reveals:

"Best of Show" assigned by Auto week magazine at the Geneva Motor Show

"Best of Show" in the Prototype category at the Villa d\'Este Concorso D\'Eleganza

2 category prizes at Challenge Bibendum 2002, one as "one of the most elegant cars in the world"

The title of "the most fascinating car" conferred at the Super Car Rally 2002 from Paris to Monte Carlo.

This very respectable CV has been inherited by the new Alfa Brera that went on sale at the end of 2005.

The true heart and the true strength of every Alfa Romeo model is its engine. The Alfa Brera\'s attractive, personality-packed looks conceal a diverse range of outstanding high-tech power units that offer generous performance: a 185 bhp 2.2 unit and a 260 bhp 3.2 V6 unit, both JTS direct injection petrol units. The Alfa Brera combines a sporty attitude with a very comfortable drive and also offers a state-of-the-art Alfa Q4 four wheel drive on the 3.2 JTS

The exterior styling is full of classical references, an ideal opportunity for a modern interpretation of traditional Alfa styling cues. A quick glance tells you everything. The rear window, for example, is reminiscent of the historical Giulietta Sprint window. The rear end also retains the distinctive traits of the latest Alfa Romeo models. Similar retro touches are also present at the front: the bonnet is reminiscent of a Fifties bonnet, i.e. dominated by a shield set into the center. The broad tail-lights and four exhaust pipes contribute to the impression of a powerful sports car, as do the generous tires and sporty-looking alloys (standard over the entire range).

The center of the Alfa Brera dashboard also houses a built-in radio and all controls for the sophisticated-looking automatic dual zone climate control system. The radio plus CD player (or MP3 player as an option), offers outstanding Bose® sound quality and was designed and built for the passenger compartment. It consists of six speakers and delivers a power output of 570 Watts.

The Alfa Brera adds a host of sophisticated devices and systems to this equipment array that makes it a new benchmark in its segment. Examples include: VDC, Xenon headlights and seven airbags (under the heading of Safety); infotelematic system with radio and phone controls on the steering wheel, Bose® Hi-Fi system and CD-changer (for Audio and Infomobility); Cruise Control (for stress-free driving); 16, 17 and 18 inch alloy wheels .

***** Alfa Romeo MiTo *****

Alfa Romeo MiTo. An up-to-date and innovative car, a name redolent of history. The name MiTo has great evocative resonance for Alfa Romeo for it was chosen to mark the deep-seated link between the past and future of the brand: between Milan, the city of design that brought to the car’s style into being, and Turin, which will be responsible for its industrial production A decision that highlights the brand’s strong desire to consolidate its Milanese roots.

The Mi.To is the first car to be built since the 8C Competizione – Alfa Romeo’s icon of style and technology, from which it borrows certain characteristic traits: The particular shape of the side windows described by the flush windows, the three-lobed motif that distinguishes the front bumper, the shape of the headlights and the LED tail-lights. The headlight and tail-light surrounds represent a distinctive personalized feature : A frame featuring different forms of material processing and colors to create an ultra-stylish eye-liner effect that underscores the cars style and aggression.

The MiTo packs all the Alfa Romeo values into 4 meters.For young people, it represents a chance to gain access their first sports car that is safe with its own distinctive style and technical content.Its dynamic attributes, good fuel economy and low emissions and petite dimensions also make the car an attractive proposition for a more adult audience, within a motoring scenario that now seems to set a premium on downsizing.

The central console also encloses the controls of the climate control system, radio, satellite navigation system, gear lever and Alfa D.N.A. system. The circular analogue speedometer and rev counter on the dashboard are also linked by a high resolution reconfigurable digital display, and perfect lighting (red or white, according to the version) guarantees clear, easy reading of all the instrumentation, particularly at night. And finally, hand position and grip are perfect on the three-spoke steering wheel, even when negotiating difficult maneuvers.

The highly distinctive dashboard and seats ensure that the interior of the Alfa Romeo MiTo represents the ultimate expression of Italian style, welcoming yet sporty, with high material quality and scrupulous attention to detail.

The interiors, created by the Alfa Romeo Style Centre, take driving position as their starting point and make the driver the center of attention: excellent distance ratio between pedal, seat, steering wheel and gear lever allow a perception of full control to ensure a typically Alfa Romeo standard of driving satisfaction.

The seats feature a juxtaposition of materials that can be seen and felt upon touch. The outer skins are smooth and silky with a clean, opaque-colored look. The central part is always trimmed with the most opulent materials: carbon fiber has been printed onto the microfiber to create an outstanding contrast of shiny/opaque. The feel is unique, sporty due to the underlying microfiber and silky due to the shiny fiber on the surface.

Last but not least, the car's compact size does not detract in any way from the overall roominess that is at the top of its category as evidenced, for example, by the outstanding amount of room available for rear passengers.

The Alfa Romeo MiTo also offers a number of convenient compartments of various sizes to accommodate small and medium-sized items. The luggage compartment on the new Alfa Romeo is also impressive for its regular shape and 270 liters of capacity.

The Alfa Romeo MiTo was specifically mentioned as one of the cars coming over to the USA.

***** Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione *****

The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione is all ready sold here in the US through select Maserati dealers.
The Alfa 8C Competizione was designed by Alfa Romeo in co-operation with the Alfa-Maserati Sports Centre. The name recalls the great sporting tradition of Alfa Romeo: the 8C code was used to identify cars equipped with the revolutionary eight cylinder engine produced by the famous designer Vittorio Jano in the 1930s and 1940s.

The "8c Competizione" is not an invented name, but a clear reference to Alfa's racing history. And of course the Alfa Romeo legend was created to a great extent by the victories its cars achieved on race courses all around the world. There were so many of them that alone they represent a long, fascinating chapter, made of men and competitive spirit, engines and cutting edge technical ideas.

The protagonists of the inestimable human and technological heritage that is responsible for today's beautiful cars, full of character and, above all, capable of combining the beauty of the styling with the pleasure of driving them.

The car is powered by an unprecedented 4,591 cm3, 90° eight-cylinder engine. The objective of the design is very clear: To offer compromised performance in every situation, from racetrack to city traffic.

Maximum engine performance is 450 Cv at 7000 rpm, with a peak torque of 470 Nm at 4750 rpm and top speed capacity at 7500 rpm. With six gears and a computerized gearbox system situated behind the steering-wheel, the car offers pinpoint gear response and has been developed to be driven at Manual-Regular, Manual-Sporty, Automatic-Regular, Automatic-Sporty and Icemodes.

The 8C’s suspension and brake systems have been designed using racetrack engineering and developed technologies. The front and rear dual wishbone suspension and aluminum calipers ensure exceptional traction and braking performance. The 8C makes use of Alfa Romeo’s latest VDC technology (advanced stability and traction control systems) for best driving performance in any situation as well as guaranteed driving safety. The outstanding and superior driving pleasure and the exuberance of its design is only a starting point for the stature Alfa Romeo is sure to achieve as a global brand.

Below are some videos of the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione for your enjoyment.

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